Child Support Arrears: Difference between revisions
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|ChapterEditors = [[Bill Murphy-Dyson]] and [[Inga Phillips]] | |ChapterEditors = [[Bill Murphy-Dyson]] and [[Inga Phillips]] | ||
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When a person who is obliged to pay child support fails to pay all of the child support they are required to pay, a debt begins to accumulate. The debt owing is called the payor's ''arrears'' of child support. | |||
People generally have two different goals when arrears begin to mount up. The person responsible for paying support, the ''payor'', likely wants the court to reduce or cancel the arrears, while the person receiving support, the ''recipient'', will want the court to force the payor to pay what's owing. | People generally have two different goals when arrears begin to mount up. The person responsible for paying support, the ''payor'', likely wants the court to reduce or cancel the arrears, while the person receiving support, the ''recipient'', will want the court to force the payor to pay what's owing. | ||
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<blockquote><tt>imprisonment of a person under this section does not discharge any duties of the person owing under an order.</tt></blockquote> | <blockquote><tt>imprisonment of a person under this section does not discharge any duties of the person owing under an order.</tt></blockquote> | ||
Since orders for support require the payment of money, arrears can also be enforced as a "judgment debt" under the provincial ''[ | Since orders for support require the payment of money, arrears can also be enforced as a "judgment debt" under the provincial ''[https://canlii.ca/t/84h5 Court Order Enforcement Act]''. They can also be enforced under the ''[https://canlii.ca/t/840m Family Maintenance Enforcement Act]'', and section 3(1)(l) of the act says that there is no time limit within which child support arrears must be enforced. | ||
Payors can apply for an order reducing arrears that have accumulated under both the ''[[Divorce Act]]'' and the ''Family Law Act''. Applications like these must be made under the same legislation under which the original child support order was made. | Payors can apply for an order reducing arrears that have accumulated under both the ''[[Divorce Act]]'' and the ''Family Law Act''. Applications like these must be made under the same legislation under which the original child support order was made. | ||
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Payors can apply under section 174 of the ''Family Law Act'' for an order reducing arrears that have accumulated under an agreement that has been filed in court just like they can for arrears accumulating under an order. | Payors can apply under section 174 of the ''Family Law Act'' for an order reducing arrears that have accumulated under an agreement that has been filed in court just like they can for arrears accumulating under an order. | ||
===The Family Maintenance | ===The BC Family Maintenance Agency=== | ||
Although recipients can enforce agreements and orders for child support on their own, most of the time recipients will give that job to the [https://www.bcfma.ca/ BC Family Maintenance Agency], which has taken over the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program. BCFMA is the new name for FMEP, however the older name is still in common use. This is a provincial government program under the provincial ''[https://canlii.ca/t/840m Family Maintenance Enforcement Act]'' that tracks payments that are owing and those that are paid, calculates the interest owing on payments that are not made, and can impose fines when payments aren't made. | Although recipients can enforce agreements and orders for child support on their own, most of the time recipients will give that job to the [https://www.bcfma.ca/ BC Family Maintenance Agency], which has taken over the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program. BCFMA is the new name for FMEP, however the older name is still in common use. This is a provincial government program under the provincial ''[https://canlii.ca/t/840m Family Maintenance Enforcement Act]'' that tracks payments that are owing and those that are paid, calculates the interest owing on payments that are not made, and can impose fines when payments aren't made. | ||
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==Collecting arrears of support== | ==Collecting arrears of support== | ||
The collection of debts and enforcement of judgments occupies a whole course at law school and is not a simple matter. Fortunately, the BC Family Maintenance Agency was established to take on collection and enforcement of support orders or agreements. Someone who is entitled to receive child support or spousal support under an agreement or order can sign up with this program and the BCFMA will tend to the enforcement of the agreement or order without a great deal of further involvement on the part of the recipient. | |||
BCFMA is free for recipients. All you have to do is file your agreement or order with the program and fill out an application form. (Agreements about child support must be filed in court first.) BCFMA will take the matter from there, and the program is authorized by the ''[ | BCFMA is free for recipients. All you have to do is file your agreement or order with the program and fill out an application form. (Agreements about child support must be filed in court first.) BCFMA will take the matter from there, and the program is authorized by the ''[https://canlii.ca/t/840m Family Maintenance Enforcement Act]'' to take whatever legal steps may be required to enforce an ongoing support obligation, and track and collect on any unpaid support and the interest accumulating on any unpaid support. | ||
The ''Family Maintenance Enforcement Act'' gives BCFMA a lot power to collect child support. The program can start and manage all of the court proceedings that can be undertaken by a private creditor, as well as some unique actions that the program alone can take. BCFMA can also: | The ''Family Maintenance Enforcement Act'' gives BCFMA a lot power to collect child support. The program can start and manage all of the court proceedings that can be undertaken by a private creditor, as well as some unique actions that the program alone can take. BCFMA can also: | ||
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*get an order for the payor's arrest. | *get an order for the payor's arrest. | ||
While it is possible to make collection or enforcement efforts on your own, this will cost money and time and possibly require you to hire a lawyer and bear that expense as well. Since any private collection efforts you might take may interfere with efforts being made by BCFMA , recipients enrolled with BCFMA are required to get the permission of the program's director before they take independent enforcement steps. | While it is possible to make collection or enforcement efforts on your own, this will cost money and time and possibly require you to hire a lawyer and bear that expense as well. Since any private collection efforts you might take may interfere with efforts being made by BCFMA, recipients enrolled with BCFMA are required to get the permission of the program's director before they take independent enforcement steps. | ||
You can find more information about enforcing orders | You can find more information about enforcing orders at the website of the [https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fl-df/enforce-execution/index.html Department of Justice], which includes a helpful overview of support enforcement mechanisms in Canada. | ||
===Separation agreements=== | ===Separation agreements=== | ||
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Section 20(2) of the ''[[Divorce Act]]'' says that an order under the act has legal effect throughout Canada. Section 20(3) also says that such orders may be filed in the courts of any province and be enforced as if they were an order of the courts of that province. In other words, if your divorce order was made in New Brunswick and contains a term requiring that child support be paid, you can file that order in the Supreme Court of British Columbia and it will have the same effect and be enforceable here, just as if it were an order of the courts of British Columbia. | Section 20(2) of the ''[[Divorce Act]]'' says that an order under the act has legal effect throughout Canada. Section 20(3) also says that such orders may be filed in the courts of any province and be enforced as if they were an order of the courts of that province. In other words, if your divorce order was made in New Brunswick and contains a term requiring that child support be paid, you can file that order in the Supreme Court of British Columbia and it will have the same effect and be enforceable here, just as if it were an order of the courts of British Columbia. | ||
Child support orders that are made under the legislation of another province can be filed for enforcement in British Columbia under sections 17 and 18 of the ''[ | Child support orders that are made under the legislation of another province can be filed for enforcement in British Columbia under sections 17 and 18 of the ''[https://canlii.ca/t/84l3 Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act]''. In this process, the recipient provides a copy of the order that entitles them to receive support to the appropriate reciprocals office in their own province (the province where the court that issued the order is located). That office then sends the order to [http://www.isoforms.bc.ca Interjurisdictional Support Services (IJSS)], which is the reciprocals office here in British Columbia. IJSS then files the order here. Once filed, the order has the same effect as an order of the courts of British Columbia. | ||
Below is a list of the various reciprocals offices in Canada. | |||
::{| width="65%" class="wikitable" | |||
!style="width: 25%"|Province/Territory | |||
!style="width: 20%" align="center"|Office Name | |||
!style="width: 20%" align="center"|Website | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|British Columbia||Interjurisdictional Support Services (IJSS)||https://www.isoforms.bc.ca/ | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Alberta||Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP)||https://www.alberta.ca/mep-payments-outside-alberta | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Saskatchewan||Inter-jurisdictional Support Orders (ISO) Unit ||https://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/family-and-social-support/child-support/information-on-child-support | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Manitoba||Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP)||https://www.gov.mb.ca/justice/courts/mep/index.html | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Ontario||Family Responsibility Office (FRO)||https://www.ontario.ca/page/child-and-spousal-support-when-one-person-lives-outside-ontario | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Quebec||Support-Payment Collection Program||https://www.revenuquebec.ca/en/online-services/forms-and-publications/current-details/in-904-v/ | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|New Brunswick||Office of Support Enforcement (OSE)||https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/public-safety/justice/content/fsos.html | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Nova Scotia||Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP)||https://mep.novascotia.ca/en/if-you-live-outside-nova-scotia-enrol | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Prince Edward Island||Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP)||https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/justice-and-public-safety/maintenance-enforcement-program-enrollment | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Newfoundland and Labrador||Support Enforcement Program||http://nl.isoforms.ca/ | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Yukon||Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP)||https://yukon.ca/en/maintenance-enforcement-program | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Northwest Territories||Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP)||https://www.justice.gov.nt.ca/en/boards-agencies/maintenance-enforcement-program/ | |||
|- | |||
|align="center"|Nunavut||Family Support Program||https://www.gov.nu.ca/en/justice-and-individual-protection/family-support-program | |||
|} | |||
====Orders made outside of Canada==== | ====Orders made outside of Canada==== | ||